Labor budgets is part of the daily conversation.  The restaurant employees are paid hourly and hope to "get more hours" while the management team is focused on beating the budget.  You are tired of talking about it and hearing about "cut labor".  In fact, many dwell on the labor budget to the point of needing therapy.  "Schedule cops" instead of leaders are developed.  To break new barriers and not only meet but beat labor budgets, old mindsets must be left behind to make room for better solutions. 

In at least four scenarios during my 30 year career, you would have called me a “Dead Man Walking”.  This was the direct result of 70+ hour weeks working in the restaurant business.  The restaurant business was not to blame, nor were my immediate supervisors; it was much more related to a mindset for creating success.

The reputation of your restaurant depends on training and on your leadership, which is directly influenced by your beliefs.  The widgets and tools online are only a means to reflect the best of your products and service.  In truth, what the restaurant team believes in becomes the foundation of a reputation.  The perfect slice served as if the the guest is royalty becomes a sharable experience.

This is a true story about an assistant manager who worked hard, followed directions well and aspired to be a restaurant manager.  She worked in my district under a general manager who had years of experience but lacked the typical “get up and go”.

What is Menu Management?
The restaurant industry is notoriously selective about adopting new technologies. Only truly revolutionary, business-building tools are worth the investment to integrate in a busy restaurant. Menu management service is one of those game-changing technologies. The core concept is to shift all of a restaurant’s menu needs - designing, updating, printing, distribution - onto a web-based platform.

The profound benefits of online menu management include leveraging the power of menus to make sales, attract new customers and build loyalty. Menus that are managed online have potential to reach new audiences of web, social media, and mobile consumers. And perhaps most importantly for an overworked restaurateur, it eliminates some big headaches from traditional menu work. These services are relatively new and the offerings are sure to expand, but desktop menu publishing will soon be eclipsed by online menu management systems.

If its time to make your orders to go, Snapfinger may be the way to go.

A large restaurant company will have a book of rules which is so thick that no one is able to remember page 234 or what is supposed to happen every 89 days on leap years.  The restaurateur with one or two locations may not have a rule book which leaves the staff with no direction and no expectations. 

Despite how much you might despise online reviews, I think most of us have come to realize online reviews matter.  A negative review doesn’t just hurt your pride.  It hurts your wallet.  In fact, Harvard Business School has done a study that shows a difference of one star can mean 5-9% in sales.   

The SeaTac airport concessionaires sold 1.7 million bottles of water; 230,000 bags of M&Ms; 90,000 neck pillows; 20,000 copies of “50 Shades of Gray,” which was the biggest selling book at Sea-Tac concessions, and nearly 10,000 “Sleepless in Seattle” nightshirt/PJs.

To be a successful leader you must understand the basic human needs and meet them well.